


Born From a Rock, Spinning in the Ether

by CalamitousOzone



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dream Bubbles, F/F, Fluff, Other Characters Are Mentioned, anyways to be safe, but hes already dead, but like its homestuck so does it rly matter, giving things song titles when u cant think of anything else is just how it be sometimes, i dont think any archive warnings apply but maybe character death for john?, oh yeah mr krabs, these are just the ones off the top of my head, this Will be happy and there Will be fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 23:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18108875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalamitousOzone/pseuds/CalamitousOzone
Summary: An exploration of Jade's time on the Prospitian ship, because we don't really see much of that in canon at all.





	Born From a Rock, Spinning in the Ether

**Author's Note:**

> this first chapter was written sporadically over some months and it rly shows. this was originally gonna be a shortish maybe 1 or 2k arajade oneshot, but the planning ended up taking more in the direction of jade dealing with her guilt and exploring her storyline bc she got real shunted in canon and it Sucks.
> 
> the title is from spaceship by kesha, and so is the chapter title. maybe i will just make all of the chapter title lyrics from space songs. who is to stop me
> 
> i would like to thank my friend, who has not read past act two, for proof reading this for me ilu sock ur incredible.

You don’t think about your childhood a whole lot, apart from when you try to remember your grandpa. It’s something that happened, and it’s something you lived through, but it’s not really present in your mind at any time.

 

Sometimes you’re doing something, or nothing, and you’ll remember something you said or did. You were messaging John when you remembered falling and rolling down a hill at age eight and breaking a toe. You were staring at a wall when you remembered finding the first wildflowers that you added to your garden. You were making lunch when you remembered getting a prickle stuck in your foot less than an hour after picking another out of the same spot. But your childhood’s not really something you think about.

 

You’re thinking about it now. Your name is Jade Harley, there is a large smudge of ash on the living room floor that you won’t touch, and right now the thing you’re remembering about your childhood is how completely alone you were.

 

You can’t even message the others this time. They won’t know until you see them again. You’ll meet Rose and Dave in three years and they’ll be so excited to see you both. And you’ll have to tell them that John died three years ago.

 

Two months later and you think you’re sleeping more than you ever have, despite what your friends said about your sleep pattern prior to the game. There’s not much else to do. Seven out of thirty-six months done. Twenty-nine left.

 

On the island you could walk around. You’d spend days away from the house walking the perimeter of the island and then directly across it four different ways and back when you didn’t think you could look your grandpa in the eyes. If you stayed out too long though, Bec would teleport you back.

 

On the ship you shrink yourself down to walk around. It makes you feel like there’s more space than there is. You still have the consorts around, but aside from the overarching plot of the quests on their planets they don’t have a lot to talk to you about. Davesprite isn’t here either. You didn’t know that sprites could die, but you don’t know how John’s death could have been heroic either, and it certainly wasn’t just, so you add those things to a mental list and then try your best to burn it.

 

Nannasprite is around. She’s lovely, and as much of a maternal figure as a deceased friend/brother’s grandmother mixed with a six foot tall harlequin doll could be. You wish sometimes that she wasn’t part harlequin, that she could be just a person, there with you, that she could be your grandmother. Which isn’t fair! She’s a sentient being and she has feelings! You can’t just say you like someone and then try to change everything about them. And you can’t just replace John as her grandchild. That’s messed up. Do you really not care about him at all? You’re here, he’s not, and the least you could do is respect his memory without trying to take his place.

 

You’re at what you think is your normal size again for once, because it’s very hard to find food to eat when you can’t reach either the interface of the alchemiter or the counter in the kitchen. It’s kind of messing with you that you might not be at your actual size ever again. You might always be slightly off, a bit too big or small. You guess it’s cool to get to choose if you’re tall or short. But you’re almost certainly never going to be the same height as you were before.

 

You round the last corner and turn the item nearest to you-a plate-into a flashing, green projectile for the person sitting on the kitchen counter.

 

In a flare of red that you don’t quite catch, the plate suspends in mid air, in front of the outstretched hands of the girl before you. She’s standing across from you, on the other side of the dining table. Behind her you can see- another version of her. She’s swinging her legs and bumping her heels on the kitchen cabinet handles.

 

You look at the one closest to you, and at her long curling ram horns, when she sidesteps out of the way. The other hops off the counter, stepping into the exact place place just vacated, gives you a wave and a grin, glows red and vanishes.

 

It’s at this point that you finally focus on the symbols on the remaining girl’s chest.

 

“Oh, sorry about that. I’m Jade. Which you, wait. I remember meeting you, so you probably already know that, but if you’d forgotten.” You pause to look at the plate, still frozen in the air. You gesture to the cogs on her shirt, ”You’re a time player right? I’m really sorry, I’ve forgotten your name. Did it start with a? I might be able to get it, if I try.”

 

“Yep! For both questions. My name’s Aradia. I’m the acting guide of the dream bubbles. Your ship’s passing through one right now, so I thought I’d come say hi.”

 

“Hi.” That was uncomfortable of you.

 

She passes you the plate, and you captchalogue it.

 

“I think the pink troll mentioned the dream bubbles before? Uh, Felicity? Felony.” Okay probably not that one but it was worth a shot. “Fef, um,” Aradia seems to get that this is going nowhere and rescues you cheerfully.

 

“You were close with that last one! Her name’s Feferi Peixes. She asked the horrorterrors of the Furthest Ring to provide a place for the dead to go.” She pulls a bottle from her sylladex and pops open the lid, shaking out a piece of bubble gum.

 

“No, thanks,” You shake your head as she offers you a piece. “You don’t seem dead though, and I’m fairly certain I’m not dead either.”

 

“No I’m very much alive, and I intend to stay that way!” She’s grinning at you. You don’t think she’s stopped smiling once. “You’re alive too. We’re just passing through the bubbles.”

 

You lead her to the living room, and tuck your legs underneath you on the couch. It sinks as she sits on the other side.

 

“My friend died,” You gesture at the pile of ash on the floor. You should clean that up. It’s been a month and you’re wasting time wilting every time you see it instead of moving on. But it feels too much like desecrating a grave. “Do you think I could find him?”

 

She pauses, and starts to blow a bubble. She snaps her gum and looks you in the eyes. “Probably, but there’s millions of versions of him out there,” She sighs. “You’ll probably find him within minutes of entering the bubbles but you might not ever find him exactly, right? You might not have the time."

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/170412803@N02/46462043725/in/datetaken/)

You’re beginning to wish you’d taken her offer on the gum, even if just to distract yourself from the sudden dust making your eyes water. That goddamn space dust is notorious for it. You think she might have noticed.

 

She definitely noticed, jerking upright on the couch and backpedaling almost impressively. “That’s okay though! I have a lot of time though! You could say I’m made of it.” She snorts at that. You don’t think you und-

 

Oh. Maid of Time.

 

You untuck one leg to deliver the light kick to the leg that a pun like that deserves, fully aware that you are guilty of far, far worse. And no, Dave will not be receiving an apology about the time he left himself ‘wide open’ for clown innuendos. It was fully deserved. And… Huh.

 

You don’t feel so sad anymore. “So what then?”

 

She turns to look at you, leaning sideways on the back of the couch. Her grey skin looks oddly leathery, and she meets your eyes. “I’ll find him for you.”

 

“Why?”

 

Her head tilts and she seems to consider that. “It was going to happen anyways.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

You prop your elbow on top of the back of couch, resting your face in your hand as you look at her.

 

“Really though. Thank you for trying to look for him for me.”

 

“You do deserve closure,  Jade.”

 

“Maybe you could visit me again if you want.” That was very much a non-answer to her non-question but she doesn’t mention it, and you’re kind of grateful. You aren’t quite willing to cry in front of a stranger.

 

“I’m not gone yet.” She blows another bubble, this one growing to the size of a fist before popping, plastering dark green gum across her nose, mouth and chin.

 

You can’t stop a snort, and she scrunches her nose, either at you or the gum, and you blink. It’s. A surprisingly cute face for someone with _massive ram horns_ and fucking _yellow eyes_ to be even able to make and you’re stunned for a second.

 

You snap out of it. “The bubble’s moving though, isn’t it?” You glance at the nearing wall of soapy film, and Aradia grimaces.

 

With one painted black nail she hastily scrapes most of the gum from her face, quickly blurting an “It was nice meeting you in person, see you!”, before the bubble sweeps through the room, and you taste salt. Aradia’s not in the room anymore and you don’t bother checking the ship for her. You have more important things to do right now.

 

You rummage through your sylladex for a reminder. You manage to find a red one, and slip it onto the middle finger of your right hand. It would definitely be rude to forget her name twice, and the red sort of matches her shirt so that’ll help you remember what it’s for.

 

You decaptchalogue the plate. Time is relative and you stopped keeping track of the days within the first week. But according to your extremely accurate internal clock, located right smack in the middle of your torso, it is half past food o’ clock. And if your stomach grumbles as you think this, well. That’s just proof your internal clock has a working alarm.

 

 

 

You see Aradia again sooner than you kind of expected. But you weren’t really sure what to expect anyways.

 

She’s standing in the hallway, looking around. You call out to her from the kitchen.

 

“Hey!” She smiles and turns to face you, when she hears, her footsteps tapping down the gold hallway. You still aren’t sure if the ship’s real gold or not. It would be gaudy, impractical, and stupid expensive in real life, but you think that’s just in line with the rest of this game. You’ve been meaning to check.

 

“Hi!” She calls out to you, “I haven’t had much luck. I’ve seen a lot of versions of John but not this particular timeline.” She looks apologetic but you brush it off.

 

“It’s only been a couple of days. I feel bad pushing that on to you and just sulking here.” You’r frustrated, yeah, but you’ve been sulking here for a month, not even to mention the six months with John still here, which weren’t much better. You haven’t been doing anything to help so it would be pretty hypocritical and rude of you to complain.

 

Besides all that, if you don’t do something new you might possibly melt and never do anything again. It’s perfect opportunity, really. “I’ll look too. With you, if that’s alright? Or I can go separate.”

 

“It’s alright with me!” She leans forward, bracing her weight on her hands, which are flat on the kitchen counter, and you would bet all your boonbucks that her feet are off the floor right now. “But it’s safer for you to be asleep. If you die in there like that you’ll just wake up, but if you go in there physically and die then you’re stuck there.”

 

You roll your eyes. “People die when they are killed.”

 

“What?” You walk around the counter, further into the currently retreating bubble.

 

Steamrolling past what you just said you counter her. “I do have conditional immortality. I just have to not do anything heroic or evil, right?” You haven’t been feeling either of those things so you think you’re probably all set.

 

“ _Ye_ -ah, _but_ you know. Worth a warning. Dying’s not fun.” That last one sounds like it’s based on experience. You guess you died a couple of times too. You can vaguely remember being Jadesprite but you can remember that being around her was, well. Really frustrating, would you really act like that?

 

“Shall we go then? Or are we just chilling?” Pulling your hood up, you turn, and she’s sitting on the counter now, grinning. You groan and tug on the two ends of your hood before she can start spouting bullshit like you fear she will, and she jumps off the counter tittering.

 

Wings untuck from the folds of her shirt, and she grabs your wrist, tugging you into the air, and sideways, face first through a briny wall, leaving iridescent prints on both your skins. A shimmering spiral fades from her cheek as you watch, and you can only fear for what you must look like, before you land sideways on the ground.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/170412803@N02/46653944974/in/datetaken/)

It’s sand, because of course you landed on objectively the _worst_ surface to have your clothes rubbed into. You had just gotten used to not trailing sea dirt after you wherever you went, and that took three months away from your island to even start to happen.

 

It’s also very loud. The white noise of the roaring winds and the breaking waves on the sand hurts your ears after the ambient noises on the ship, which was mostly just consorts scampering around.

 

As you stand you see Aradia twist to face the wind, so it whips her hair out of face, instead of into it. Then you see her immediately regret it as she’s hit by the millions of grains of sand tearing along the beach with the gusts.

 

With her face hidden in both hands she awkwardly gestures with her elbow out to where you can see something sticking up above the water. Her voice is raised as she tries to tell you something but you can’t hear her over the wind.

 

“WHAT.” You walk up beside her, extremely glad you chose to tuck your hair away in the hood of your god tier shirt.

 

“That shipwreck is worth checking.” You understood it that time, but you still have check.

 

“UNDERWATER?” You don’t have gills, and while you vaguely think you saw them on Feferi when she met you in your sleep, you can’t spot any on Aradia. Feferi had fins too though, and you face her and check that Aradia definitely doesn’t. She definitely notices, and she blinks at you, surprised, but she answers.

 

“WE’RE GOD TIER. WE’D BE FINE EVEN IF THIS WASN’T A DREAM.” You give her the skeptical look that that deserves but her eyes are firmly buried behind the heels of her hands. She just grins at you anyway, and removes one hand to offer it to you. It’s not really necessary; you doubt you could lose each other in the 400 metre flight out to the wreck. Still. You have been on an island alone for years, and your reunion with other humans only lasted a few months. You aren’t exactly swamped with skin to skin contact.

 

It’s nice. Aradia’s hand is warm around yours, and she turns her smile on you as you start to float a few centimetres off the ground. That’s nice too.

 

 

 

The water is calm around the ship where it breaches the surface, and you only have a moment to wonder what the underwater visibility will be like, before Aradia folds in her wings and plunges feet first into what is hopefully empty water, dragging you down via your linked hands.

 

The water temperature’s nice at least. You won’t be cold, but if this wasn’t a dreambubble all the wind and sand would make it hell to get out anyways.

 

The first thing you see is your hair, half of which has escaped your hood, floating very much where you would like to see. You’re still holding hands with Aradia, and you let go to push your hair away from your face, immediately missing the contact which is. Huh. She doesn’t seem to mind though, just using her now free hand to wave you down to where she’s begun to swim towards; a large opening in what probably used to be the ship’s hull.

 

“Sea? No problems!” She laughs as you give a record-breaking type of long sigh, vanishing into the gap before you can deliver the retribution that pun deserves.

 

When you do manage to catch up to her, a few rooms into what has to be _the largest_ ship ever, she’s holding on to a doorway, anchoring her where she floats in front of a hulking golden throne. Large hot pink rhinestones encrust the patterned sides, which is-at the very least-an interesting combination with what you’re positive is real, actual gold-based on how untarnished it is-but whatever. Aradia lets go of the doorframe to sort of worm her way over to the throne, not really bothering to swim the few metres. She grabs onto one of the arms, running her hands over the fake gems and the intricate carvings on the side of the chair.

 

“This would belong to )(IC!”

 

“Bless you?”

 

She looks over her shoulder at you, confused, before you see the realisation click in her face that you genuinely have no idea what she’s talking about. “)(er Imperial Condescension-)(IC-was Alternia’s empress. And this-“

 

“This was her throne?” She turns back to examining the gargantuan installation.

 

“One of them.”

 

“Oh. Neat.” You kick off the wall and across the room, and catch yourself on the back of the throne before you can be called out on your awkward conversation fillers.

 

Up close you can see that the carvings on the throne are different scenes. Waves roll through battlefields filled with tall, finned aliens, and break onto outer space like they would on the banks of the beach. The scenes are all trapped in the hair of a grinning alien, who has rhinestones on her fins and horns, encrusted in them, as in her jewellery. She’s wearing the same symbol that you saw on Feferi’s shirt. So. The empress if you had to guess.

 

You’re following Aradia’s example and immediately running your hands over any human archeologist’s wet dream when you feel a groove a cut rougher than the smooth bumps of the mural. There on the empress’s left horn is an addition to the scene that was likely added after the manufacturing. The gold coating of the throne has been scraped off, and the metal beneath has rusted brown. You think you recognise the mark as one of the zodiac signs. _Taurus? Aries? T_ he latter, you think, but you’re not quite sure.

 

You grab Aradia’s floating sleeve and tug on it to get her attention.

 

“What is happening here?” You gesture to the carving. “I mean, aside from vandalism.”

 

“Where?”

 

“Here.” You tap the mark.

 

“I can’t see it, your hand is in the way.” Okay, no it isn’t.

 

“It’s easily twice the size of my hand, my hand physically _can’t_ be in the way.” She frowns at you when you say this.

 

“Okay but if you aren’t blocking it then there’s nothing there. I can’t see whatever it is you’re talking about.” You’re not sure what face you pull at her but she, indiscreetly, laughs at you under her breath.

 

“If you can’t see this then can you even see anything at all. I’m pointing it out directly it _should_ be pretty hard to miss.” You stare at her. She stares back at you, trying very hard to keep a straight face, and only mostly failing.

 

She grins, “Jade. I’m messing with you.” You narrow your eyes at her and huff, only slightly dramatically.

 

“Not very well. But, really, what’s going on here?”

 

“I’m not really sure. It’s weird because that’s like. That’s my sign, but also that’s a _rusty_ sign, and how would a rusty even get in here.” You recognise those words but not in the order.

 

“Yeah? It sure is rusted on there I guess. What do you mean by a rusty?”

 

“No, it’s one of the rustblood signs. Which is what a rusty is, you know?”

 

“No, I don’t? What are signs? Actually, could you please just explain the whole thing?”

 

“It’s. Hmm. So each caste has 24 signs, and they’re usually the colour of the trolls’ blood, so you know how high up on the hemospectrum they are? I’m an Aries, the same as whoever carved that. The Empress has fuchsia blood, and is in the highest blood caste, and rusties have rust blood and are at the bottom of the hemospectrum.” She’s looking at you, oddly delighted for someone describing what would absolutely be a completely transparent and shitty excuse for some people to treat others badly.

 

“So like. Discrimination based on blood colour?”

 

“You guys didn’t have that?” She seems excited by the idea of that, which, honestly, is pretty reasonable.

 

“No, but we had other shitty excuses for xenophobia.” Her smile actually widens when you say this, which you kind of want to dispute, until she talks again.

 

“Yeah, but the world’s over! And when we are in the new world it doesn’t have to be the same.”

 

You smile too, at that, before turning back to the Aries symbol on the fish troll’s horn. “So what does it mean for this to be here?”

 

“It means that I am super proud of the troll who did this for vandalising not just imperial property, but the _Empress’s_ property.”

 

 

 

You drift through the other rooms in the ship.

 

_John’s not here._ In some part of you, you know this, but… You’ve been on the ship for months and you want to see more than just the planets and the golden hallways. You have two and a half more years of that anyways.

 

You round another corner and freeze the best that you can, Aradia head bumping, or horn bumping, you guess, into you as she follows. The spiky parts missed you, so you’re fine. Aradia’s holding her head as if she was experiences the consequences of trying to run headfirst through a brick wall. But more importantly.

 

“Is that a huge fucking moray eel. Yeah. Yeah that’s a huge fucking moray eel. That’s so cool, look at him! Look! He is just chilling. Having a chill time.” Its head is easily the size of yours, and knowing you have conditional immortality gives the courage/stupidity (stupidity) to swim closer to where its head is hanging down from a vent in the ceiling. “What a good boy! Look at this genuine lad. He’s having such a good time, aren’t you? You’re just hanging out in a shipwreck you scaly little bastard! I love you more than the sun and moon, you mean the whole world to me you funky little man!”

 

You blink, and when your eyes open you’re two metres back from where you were, watching the eels jaws snap down around empty water.

 

“ _Oh_ baby, I’m so sorry I scared you,” You continue to tell it, as you retreat further. The eel looks confused. “I just need you to know how precious you are! You’re the most beautiful boy in the world! It’s you!” The eel decides a tactical retreat will save it from your affection, and tucks its head into the hole, drawing out of sight and out of reach. Aradia laughs at you, which. Fair.

 

“Do you do that a lot?”

 

“Yeah, I used to. Bec would usually pull me out of it if I was going to get hurt though. Speaking of which, did you pull me away? How did I avoid that?”

 

“You don’t remember? You kind of went blank, started flashing green, and scrambled through the water right before it lunged at you. That’s an odd thing to forget, you know.”

 

“Yeah I guess I blanked out for a couple of seconds there. Weird.”

 

She glances over at you. “Bec was your first guardian woofbeast right?” _Weird terminology, but yeah_. You smile at the memory of him.

 

“Yeah. Good dog. Best friend. I fused with him when I god tiered so I guess that I’m a furry now.” You say, gesturing at two of your four ears. Actually why _do_ you have four ears. That’s weird. She gives a small, laughing huff at that.

 

“Maybe he’s still looking out for you, in your subconscious. But also, you know what furries are, which I am extremely happy to find out for one main reason. Do you understand what this means?”

 

“What?” She grins at you, and it’s so infectious that you’re grinning before she even manages to get out her statement, passed her laughs.

 

“Furries are a universal constant.”

 

“Holy shit no. Noooo.”

 

“Yes. Yes absolutely. You know it to be true.”

 

“No, I won’t accept this. We are in the timeline that God abandoned.” Call you Cairo, because you are situated on the banks of the Nile, and if you enter denial any further you will be flooded. People will drown Jade, can you live with that? All because you couldn’t accept furries being a universal content. What are you doing? Get some priorities Jade, lives are on the line here.

 

“We are gods and we’re in the alpha timeline so this timeline has not been abandoned. It’s good news!” You groan at her, kicking yourself forward to barrel into her as much as you can while underwater. She’s pushed a metre forward, she’s laughing at you, and it’s _cute_. So um. Oh no.

**Author's Note:**

> the tone, and my writing style based on that, changed over the course of writing this and it rly shows. but its gonna get better.
> 
> this first chapter is abt 1/3 to 1/5 of what i originally had planned for chapter one (it was gonna be out of three), but i realised that that would just be unrealistic for me to upload chapters in an at all regular manner. so this ones a little short, but other than this the word goal for each chapter is gonna be 5k
> 
> theres also an art of the throne but its not done rn so maybe next chapter or ill edit it in. please let me know if you see any mistakes in spelling or punctuation that have slipped past. or issues with consistency when i talk about the timeframe or whatever.
> 
> but anyways im excited so lets see how we go. thanks for reading


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